Auto shop accuses Albany officials of foul play

An auto repair shop that has delayed construction of an office and apartment tower near Quackenbush Square in Albany has received a “cease and desist” notice from the city code division, leading the shop’s owners to claim it’s being bullied by the city.

The city notice orders that Richard and Sandra Hameroff, owners of the Broadway Auto Clinic, stop selling vehicles and stop making “major” auto repairs.

Delivered Thursday, the order followed an unannounced inspection of the business earlier in the week.

The inspection and order come after the business obtained a temporary restraining order preventing the termination of its lease, putting a hitch in plans by Syracuse-based Queri Development to build Amos at Quackenbush Square, an 11-story, $40 million office and apartment tower.

“Now not only do we have to fight the developer, but we have to fight the city too,” Sandra Hameroff said Friday. “It feels like we’re being ganged up on.”

City officials deny the order is linked to the property dispute. Nicholas DiLello, director of the Division of Building and Codes, said the inspection, which followed a complaint, found several activities not allowed by the city permit, including making major auto repairs, operating a commercial parking lot, displaying too many signs and selling vehicles.

DiLello declined to say who had made the complaint.

The Times Union, however, acquired a letter to DiLello from Gregory Faucher, the Albany attorney for Queri Development, requesting that the city “determine the state of compliance” at the auto shop and “take any and all necessary action with respect to any on-going violations.”